Natural Justice

England is rightly proud of our Common Law. Its roots may be lost in the mists of time, but its guarantees of freedom and what we call natural justice underpin the way of life of most of the English-speaking world.

Both Magna Carta and the United States Constitution guarantee the fundamental legal principles of Habeas Corpus (literally, 'produce the body' - no evidence, no trial) and the presumption of innocence. So I am alarmed (and I hope you are) at some of the legislation this Government is rushing through.

In the aftermath of the New York terror of 9/11 it was right and reasonable that a state should have the power to detain terrorist suspects in one country for crimes they have committed in another. So a Real IRA man who bombs in Belfast should be able to be extradited from Spain to face charges in Britain - and the arrangements should be reciprocal.

But, hang on! The Extradition Bill also creates the European Arrest Warrant that gives foreign police, from 2004, the right to ask for the arrest of British citizens in the UK for alleged offences that are not a crime in the UK. For example, the long list of 'serious offences' covered by the European Arrest Warrant and agreed by this Government include 'racism and xenophobia' neither of which is properly recognized and defined as an offence in British law. Furthermore the European Arrest Warrant should never be used to arrest a British citizen to face trial in another country where there would be a presumption of guilt or where the principle of Habeas Corpus does not apply.

Another great principle of freedom enshrined in Magna Carta is trial by jury - the lawful judgment of ones peers. Some offences are more serious than others and some decisions on guilt are clearer than others, so different standards of proof may apply to different crimes, varying from the balance of probability that someone is guilty, to absolutely no doubt whatsoever. What they all have in common is a judgment based on evidence.

Just before Christmas in a midnight debate in the House of Lords (so no, you probably didn't hear about it) the Government confirmed its shameful decision that the two RAF pilots killed along with 27 other servicemen in the infamous crash of Chinook Helicopter ZD 576 on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, should be convicted of gross negligence against a standard of proof of 'absolutely no doubt whatsoever'. This was the Chinook grounded by Boscombe Down and forcibly removed to Belfast for operations shortly before the crash.

For six years a small cross-party group of MPs and Peers has sought to have this judgment overturned - and we're not through yet. This Government has now changed the rules so future RAF pilots who are killed in a crash will never again be convicted of gross negligence. Shamefully, they won't apply it retrospectively. The whole point is that because there is no evidence for what happened - and never will be - the Government has based its decision on opinion. And there is conflicting opinion - loads and loads of it. That is not natural justice. I mind.

I mind, also, that two of our local families have mothers in prison, convicted of killing their children, not on hard evidence but largely on the opinion of one medical 'expert'. Neither Sally Clark nor Angela Cannings should be in prison. I am convinced that will be the eventual conclusion of years of legal wrangling - wasted years as far as the families deprived of their mothers are concerned. Once again a small cross-party group of us is working in Parliament to reverse this alarming trend, relying on the ancient, precious, delicate and most fundamental principles of natural justice about which we care so much

ROBERT KEY MP